STUDY AIDS : CHARACTERS

Ernest Frankenstein

Ernest was six years younger than myself, and was my principal pupil. He had been afflicted with ill health from his infancy, through which Elizabeth and I had been his constant nurses: his disposition was gentle, but he was incapable of any severe application. (I:1:27).

His health improves, however, during Victor's long absence at Ingolstadt. In the first edition Elizabeth and Alphonse propose that he should become a farmer—"the least hurtful, or rather the most beneficial profession of any" (I:5:2). By the time of the 1831 edition Ernest has become more extroverted. Elizabeth reports: "He is now sixteen, and full of activity and spirit. He is desirous to be a true Swiss, and to enter into foreign service" (1831:I:6:2).